Our laboratory studies lung mechanics in the context of acute lung injury. A hallmark of acute lung injury is pulmonary edema, in which liquid leaks out of the blood vessels into the airspace of the lung. Such liquid-filling of the airspace causes breathing difficulty in patients. For breathing assistance, acute lung injury patients are placed on mechanical ventilation. In attempting to provide sufficient assistance, however, mechanical ventilation can cause over-distension injury of the lungs and prevent recovery. The mortality rate is about 30% and patients often die from the ventilator injury, not the underlying lung disease.

To address this problem, we study inflation mechanics in the edematous lung. Our goal is to use our understanding of mechanics to inform development of novel treatment methods that reduce ventilator induced lung injury.